


Kiss me cold

by meiqis



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Because I can, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 23:01:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14924502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meiqis/pseuds/meiqis
Summary: Where Yanjun is a piano prodigy who's somewhat anti-social and just doesn't want to deal with anyone and then there's Zhengting who likes to play around with his friends and can be heard screaming all the way to Yanjun's usual music room until one day Yanjun snapped and got angry but Zhengting was all but intimidatedWhere it turns into an adorable tradition of coffee and cake until a certain winter evening of building snowmen





	Kiss me cold

**Author's Note:**

> Based on [this prompt](https://curiouscat.me/dadting/post/523170840) because I fell in love  
> I just modified it a bit

Dance, it for sure was all that mattered to him, just dancing, moving with the melodies that seemed to be melting right into his bloodstream, taking over, he wasn’t sure which was the one that moved, whether it was his own body and mind or the music that turned him into a mere puppet, a marionette moved by strings woven of tunes, it was his obsession, was his passion, and there was nothing better, well, maybe there was, considering the coffee house around the corner of the school, the one he passed by on his way home, had recently come out with new cakes perfectly made for summer, still, walking home with his limbs sore, his muscles aching, soaking in a hot bath at home while having a movie running on his tablet, it was still the best feeling, he didn’t feel complete otherwise, and thus he dreaded weekends most. Because weekends were the times when he couldn’t just stay in the school’s practice rooms all day, and these may be blessed, this school may be blessed, he was still joking about how he’d kiss the headmaster’s hand if he gets the chance to, because creating a school so perfectly focused on arts, on music and composition, on dancing, on acting and theatre, he still felt it was quite an honor to be able to attend here, to make so many great friends that shared his passion, and he loved it, maybe he was weird for that, loving school, but he just loved to be able to dance and dance and keep dancing until his feet hurt and his body had gone numb.  
It truly was a pit, endless spiral downwards, and he was willing to slide down that hole to wonderland every Monday again, after two dreadful days to keep up with studies he had neglected on weekdays, in the evenings meeting with his friends, playing around, all releasing their pent up energy although maybe none of them was quite as bad as he was, admittedly, some of them had other ways to release their stress, like Yanchen and Zeren who were already all over each other once both had arrived to the practice room their group occupied, not even trying to hold back as he threw his bottle at the couple, showing them a face of disgust. “I really can’t understand how you’re this horny when I’m sure you’ve spent the whole weekend in bed…”  
“Teenage hormones,” Chaoze declared as he settled next to Zhengting on the ground, speaking as if he wasn’t a teenager himself, explaining quite well the annoyed looks he received from the couple, something that couldn’t even bother him, because Chaoze just was that way, he didn’t say these things in spite and no one got upset, not like they would even dare, they all had quietly decided not to get upset with the smaller after that one time they had, stupidly enough, agreed to accompany him and Ziyi to gym, all of them dead where these two were still going on with ease, and seeing how much weight they lifted… “I found a new choreo we could try to copy and maybe adjust a bit. Teacher Zhang gave us this new homework anyways and we just need to edit Zeren out at the end of it.”  
“Is that your revenge for them always making out instead of practice?” Ziyi asked who had just come into the room, mostly completing the dance ordeal of their class, surely there were other dancers too, those from other classes, but sure not enough just yet, maybe just enough, because less dancers meant more solo practice time, meant he was able to occupy the dance room after their group times by himself, always staying until the end, until the janitor had to throw him out, until the announcement for the school’s closing time was announced through the speaking system, because they were granted this much freedom, at least in some of the practice rooms, he hadn’t bothered asking about the rules for other departments, all too messy, all too mixed.  
“Maybe it’s because he’s not in our class so he has his assignments to finish too?” Chaoze gave them all an incredulous look, for a moment doubting all their sanity or maybe just their intelligence, a sound of realization going around the room, because they forgot all too easily, with the younger always around, his dance level high, easily keeping up, easily sticking around his boyfriend, it sometimes made them forget he was still younger. “So if you all would-”  
There was a banging sound against their door, interrupting their personal choreographer’s words, all heads turning to the two troublemakers standing in the door, source of the crashing noise probably having been these two bodies crashing into the entrance, all mischievous glances and a paper in their hands that Zhengting knew all too well, raised up now as they started, “Dear Eunki, I know you’re not anymore part of our class because your exchange program ended and you had to go back to-”  
Chengcheng didn’t even get any further than this with his reading out loud what was written and the softly pink paper, simply because it would mean certain death, with Zhengting gone from his spot on the floor and halfway towards the door in all but a second, screaming the name of the two underclassmen that were, coincidentally and tragically, also his childhood friends, neighbors, and most annoying little devils, and currently running away from him as they raced through the hallways, still trying to somehow recite words from the letters that sounded all too much like “undying love” and “graceful beauty” and “perfect match” and it only made the older scream louder, cursing in his mind how the kids were his height and taller, how they had long legs matching his, because it was all the more difficult to catch them than maybe Zeren, just as had happened a few weeks prior, when that idiot had decided it was a great idea to slip coffee-coated ice cubes past his collar and down his shirt, knowing they wouldn’t slip out because the piece of clothing was well trapped within his pants which meant the frozen water had just stuck around, near his lower back, chilly on his skin, and all too fast a similar scene had happened, with him rushing after one of the youngsters just once again.  
Unreasonably, Chengcheng stopped all on his own, Zhengting still yelling at him as he half crashed into the younger, clinging onto him as he reached for the colored papers, promising himself he’d later burn this love letter he had never dared send off, panting heavily because yelling and running all at once was a whole exercise, “I swear to god, Fan Chengcheng, I’ll beat you up for this, just wait till we get home and-”  
It took him a moment to realize that Chengcheng, now actually, where had this little brat Justin ran off, the one who’d get a scolding all of his own because he was pretty sure it hadn’t been Chengcheng who’d shown up in his room Sunday morning, rummaging through drawers with the excuse of needing to borrow some pencils or whatever, because the slightly older between these two demons was as much of a sleepy head as Zhengting was himself and there was no way the younger Fan sibling would ever get up at such unholy time. Only that these two spent too much time together so whatever secret one of them kept, the other immediately knew too, they were the kind of friends everyone would say were destined to be soulmates and to marry happy and with twenty children and Zhengting nearly would believe that if it weren’t for their favorite hobby that was torturing him. But the point was, the point he had lost in his own anger because what was a red thread of thoughts when all he could do was see red in agitation, that this very boy that was still serving as pillar to support his panting self, wasn’t even focused on him but someone else entirely, someone he only noticed then, all crossed arms and scowl on his face and a glare that felt like being stabbed by daggers to anyone but Zhengting, painfully oblivious as he just leaned in a bit closer to whisper, “Who’s that…?”  
He could see how the younger already parted his lips, ready to reply, give an answer, but was immediately shut down by that stranger boy that had previously stood in a dead angle, not seen around the corner by Zhengting who had just come running in, but now ever so evident, ever so invasive, “Can you maybe shut up? You’ve been running around screaming for minutes now, not caring about whether or not you’re disturbing anyone else who actually is intent on practicing and honing their skills and this isn’t even the first time this is happening. I’m honestly so sick of you all running around and yelling as if this wasn’t an institute of education, not a fucking playground!”  
“Language,” Zhengting said by reflex, way less bothered by the words but the swearing in it, could already see how Chengcheng had stiffened up with the ongoing, despite surely short, remarks about a lack of discipline, so he just gently patted his shoulder, making the younger turn around and sending him off, he already had gotten what he had wanted, held the pieces of rosy paper crumbled in his hands, his eyes only returning to the stranger that had seemed quite startled by his response after he saw his friend disappear in one of the rooms, the small hands that greeted him surely belonging to his best friend, and as much as he wanted to scold these two, somehow he was possessive about such activity, it was his job to tell them off, not someone else’s.  
“Listen,” the stranger who had apparently gotten his composure back again started once more, stepping forward, dropping all rules of personal space as he dug a finger into Zhengting’s chest, “I couldn’t care less what you do in your free time. But this is school and here are people who actually want to work on their abilities so I’d rather you finally stop fucking around like this, I’ve kept up with you always running around and yelling for way too long already, it’s honestly getting on my nerves so-”  
“You really should watch your language,” Zhengting simply said, not at all bothered by the intimidating, or what he guessed would be intimidating to anyone else, aura the other emitted, because his focus was and remained that this person was just talking in a manner that was unnecessarily rude and just painful to the ears, grabbing him by the wrist instead, oblivious to the startled face he received, startled because there was no normal human being who would just grab someone who was yelling at them by the hand nor would they so confidently tell him to watch his words, wasn’t used to people not being actually terrified of his anger and ducking away from him, they already did either way when seeing his face, but this guy right there, the dancer that was still holding him, was just dragging him towards the room that had a door still open, leading into one of the smaller music chambers, a grand piano placed in the middle of it, sheets of notes spread across the headboard and lying around on the ground, all carefully inspected now by the dancer who still didn’t let go. “Piano? Is that what you do best? So you’re from the musical department? Who knew a piano player was this harsh to some child who only wanted to play around.”  
“You call it playing around and I call it a disturbance of self-study,” the older growled, yanking his hand out of a grip that was stronger than he would have expected from someone who seemed so lanky, making it difficult to tell what department he belonged to, and just for a moment that thought was enough to distract him, enough to suddenly himself be the one with a pointer finger digging into his chest.  
“Let kids be kids,” the other said in a gentle voice, with lips parted to go on when he heard his phone ringing, a rushed “Oh shit!” and he was dashing off already, leaving a piano player alone with his wooden lover and agitation because hadn’t he just been called out for using aggressive language when the other was doing just the same?

“I can’t believe you picked a fight with Lin Yanjun,” Chengcheng groaned, and Zhengting didn’t even wonder why the two kids were laying on his bed, reading comics instead of school books, already knew either his mother or sister had allowed them in even despite the fact he himself had still been in the bathtub, either taking a bath or soaking in the shower for too long because his muscles were sore and the warmth helped relax, with supportive herbs added into the bathing water to dissolve any knots built in his thews.  
“With Lin. Yan. Jun.” Each syllable stressed, Justin looked at the oldest with his head hanging over the edge of the mattress, not quite a healthy position for sure considering all the blood was rushing to his head and would make him dizzy later on but somehow the dancer assumed it wasn’t too much of a difference in the end of the day because that kid was still messed up in his head and yet he loved him. Unfortunately.  
After years of living together, he lacked the shame to go to his bathroom to get dressed, pulling out a set of pajamas while he also grabbed some underwear to jump into, wriggling because the fabric was stuck to his still wet legs and only when he had that bit of clothing on, he finally threw the towel aside. “The guy that was scolding Chengcheng? He’s cute.”  
Two sets of eyes widened as they looked at him, shock, surprise, finally and once again doubting their fake older brother’s sanity for good because they might be in their first year still but for some reason they knew more gossip than anyone else. Or maybe it’s merely because they were in the same department as the rumored anti-social hothead, the one no one dared to approach, music theory and composition, in the case of these troublemakers it meant merely writing their own songs, being loud, and surprisingly still managing to deliver great rap, much to the surprise of the teachers but surely that was the reason they allowed them to do as much nonsense in first place.  
The two shared a look with each other before glancing at the oldest in the room, simultaneously shaking their head at the one who was finally dressed now, in comfortable trousers and an oversized shirt, entirely contrasting his fashionable attire he stared during the day, “He’s crazy” and “Entirely bonkers!” was all he got to hear after his initial confession about the thoughts he had on the older who he had gotten to meet only that day, meaning merely a few hours prior but still enough time to wonder about who that guy was.  
Rubbing a towel along his hair, ruffling it up and partly hiding his face unintentionally, it meant he didn’t see some of the grimaces the younger ones made at him before Chengcheng started talking, “Huba said he’s really a struggle because he keeps talking down to everyone and disregards everyone. In his breaks he’s alone and after class or in his free time he always disappears into a piano room. Everyone in their class is afraid of him because he just glares at people.”  
“I can’t believe you don’t know him,” Justin pitched in immediately, flipping a page in his comic without even bothering to look at any of the two other boys just yet, oblivious to the fact that Zhengting didn’t even listen properly but was busy typing into his phone already. “He was celebrated a prodigy since his childhood, second Mozart or something. He’s quite infamous in school. If it weren’t for his bad temper, he might already be more influential than all of us combined.”  
It was just seconds after Justin had ended his talk that suddenly a lout “WHAT?!” echoed through the room, yelled in Chaoze’s high tone voice, originating not from the small dancer as part of a live performance but for it was coming from the oldest’s phone for he had been busy writing into their group’s chat, updating the others on what had happened earlier that day, not having dared to originally because their choreography leader’s scolding had been just too much and too intense after he had been late to the practice already. The good thing was how fast they all were at picking up the steps, the routine itself had easily been accomplished but it was so like the smallest to be a perfectionist to the core, even worse than the rest of them, needing perfect synchronization, all the right angles and bridging their differences in height, uniting all their different bases into a flawless mixture that brought out all their strengths and covered all their weaknesses. It was truly like magic.  
At least in the practice room, right now he felt his phone repeatedly vibrate in his palm, memes of shock and disaster sent to him along with startled and surprised emojis and it truly was but a huge mess he decided, a mess that wasn’t even worth bothering with so he just put the device aside again and looked at the two youngsters on his bed. “Care to watch a movie? I’ll go make some popcorn for us.”

His legs were numb and his shoulders sore as he more heaved himself through the hallways rather than actually walking, their dance class had ended well, after a few days of Chaoze’s torturous way of training them all it had truly been brought to the peak of perfection to the point they got praised by their teacher quite well and long but it also had meant that each of them had turned into a zombie, all of them heading home, Yanchen with a clingy human puppy attached to his arm, Ziyi while saying something about the gym, Chaoze who had told him not to overdo it again, and then there had been only him left, dancing and dancing until he couldn’t anymore, needing to end it earlier than usual and drag his body into a weekend he was actually looking forward to because this time he probably needed it for real.  
Hauling his body through hallways worked only so long until he heard soft piano tunes, luring him in, sounding like a Pied Piper that was making him walk a detour just to find the source of such sound, not even paying attention to just where he was going until he arrived at a door he recognized as the one he had passed through just at the beginning of the week, apparently dragging along the grump of their school without knowledge, maybe upsetting a person he shouldn’t have agitated but he also couldn’t care much, way too intrigued with the soft piano tunes that were still charming his ears, carefully, all too carefully, pushing open the door so he could hear better, volume immediately increasing by a few notches, loud and soft all at once, and his eyes darted around the room quickly to look for the person that was hitting the keys, treating the instrument like a lover the way he treated music like a goddess that was leading him.  
Except the one person he hadn’t expected to see was the one sitting right there, a face he had first gotten to know deformed into a scowl was now awfully relaxed, swaying with the melody of the piece that was so filled with emotions, so strong, intense, it was way off the first impression he had received from the piano player, that scowl, quite adorable if they were to ask him, maybe it was because he couldn’t feel intimidated anymore after he had been the one running after to pranksters everyday for years to the point he thought the only thing he had to fear was these two coming up with any plans ever again because those usually went wrong in any way possible and it was him who would need to clean up after them.  
Seeing how focused the older was, he was all that quiet as he went further into the room while crouched down, closing the door behind himself without any disturbing noise so he could settle down without being heard, years of dancing had made it quite easy to move without noise because it was highly ungraceful to jump up into the air and land with a thump too loud, so he had practiced and practiced and practiced all over again until he managed to step onto the floor without any sound made, sliding over the wooden panels of the music chamber now until he could settle in a corner and sit down, hugging his legs to his chest and resting his chin on his knees so he could continue watching the other who was long since not paying attention to music notes anymore, was obviously and evidently just following the music in his heart and it sounded so beautiful Zhengting was sure he could listen to it forever.  
Just that everything needed to come to an end and this end was quite a cruel one, always the same lady announcing through the speakers that the building would be closing soon, that self-practice needed to be ended or they would receive the yellow card, a warning, and too many of them surely weren’t looking great within their resume, an end that startled the older and made him brush off all the notes in an agitated motion, all quietly observed, how papers were sent flying in frustration, a childish stomp with his foot, soon enough there were hands busy collecting these very papers and just randomly stuffing them into a folder that already looked like a mess to begin with, crouched down on the floor and picking them up one by one by one, it was only natural to happen sooner than later now, the moment in which he would be seen, sitting in the corner still and when it happened, there were a bunch of reactions he had expected, maybe another outburst of aggression and frustration that seemed only adorable, not an even more adorable expression of surprise.  
“How long have you been sitting there?” A wary voice, distrust in beautiful dark eyes that were widened slightly, papers that were now cruelly thrown together and dumped into a bag as if that was his only distraction to the embarrassment that was having been caught during his small temper tantrum.  
“Long enough to know you’re playing beautifully,” he answered from his position in the corner, watching how his upperclassman got up and grabbed his bag, holding out his hands in a request to be pulled up because his legs were but jelly and he feared he would rather fall over than be able to get up and standing and maybe his first impression of this very boy had been all but wrong because it was indeed only moments until warm hands grabbed his, digits wrapping around his wrists and pulling him close in one swift movement, until their chests were nearly touching and their lips were too close, hot breath mingling and driving Zhengting crazy for the shortest of moments before he naturally had to break it, “After hearing about you, I hadn’t expected this ability to produce such tunes. You really must be a prodigy, I guess.”  
“You’re relying too much on what you hear if that’s what you think,” a reply clouded in bitter laughter with a hand pressing against his lower back to push him towards the door, feeling all that big on the small of his spine and he wanted to believe that this was faulted to a pianist’s hands being bigger, slender digits longer, not because it was him that had such a tiny frame when he knew he had lost weight ever since he had entered this school due to his excessive training, this nearly daily and endless practice that was all but a spiral down the rabbit hole. “I can’t even play the notes properly and you want to call me a prodigy? There’s not a single piece I’ve been able to finish practicing so who’d call me that?”  
“But isn’t that why you’re here?” He turned his head around in curiosity to look at the musician, eyes bright and innocent, filled with a naivety that was born from pure love towards music and, in his case, dance, because there was no need to perfect pieces that weren’t the ones they had created themselves, of course, Chaoze would probably want to kill him for that because in the end they all wanted to deliver their assignments flawlessly, those that had been handed over and those they had chosen themselves and they all were too aware that these things came first before it was their personal elaboration, expansion in skills that was to be taken care of after they had finished what they must and while he knew that they all did it in their own ways, that Yanchen would always practice in his room at night, that Zeren would give him advice whenever he was staying over, that Chaoze was training in the dance center close to his home because he knew the owners, that Ziyi trained in the gym nearly everyday because working his body meant exercising the control he had over his body, and he, he just wrecked his body again and again until it was more normal to feel exhausted than energetic. “You’re not here to follow someone else’s steps but to create your own content. It’s not your job to finish what someone else had started but to build a base for your own empire.”  
“Maybe you should stick with listening to what others say after all. And stop leaning onto me, can’t you walk on your own?” The older grumbled when it had been him to never let go, to always guide him on, push Zhengting forward and through the hallways and staircases until they had left the school, bowing one last time to the lady that usually made the closing announcement, the lady that knew them and others too well because it were always the same people that stayed for too long and practiced too hard and made life harder for her because she needed to stay for all that long or maybe she was even glad because life at home could be quite tiring at times.  
An overly dramatic gasp and a hand pressed to his chest might have given the impression the dancer might actually be from the theater department after all when he just wasn’t, exaggerated and overdone, before he broke into a soft laughter and replied, “I’ve been going too hard on myself during practice and I think I overused my legs this week. Hey, do you like coffee and cake?”

He couldn’t explain how it had happened, this little ritual of theirs, because they both were the kind to stay until the end, until the lady had to usher them out via the speaking system, because sometimes they would be finishing their own earlier and looking for the other, with Zhengting sneaking into the music chamber and sitting down in the corner, never making a noise until it had ended and strong arms pulled him up, with Yanjun just watching in the doorway, knowing the creaking of hinges would be drowned out by the music so he just stood there, leaning against the doorframe and observing unmatched elegance taking shape in dance, fascinating and eye-catching, because that was what the dancer was, but most days they would just meet in the entrance hall, with Zhengting leaning against Yanjun and wrapping his arms around him while they headed for the little coffee house around the corner on their way home, sometimes for tea, sometimes coffee with foamy milk, sometimes for elaborate cakes, sometimes for little treats like cookies and macaroons, and it was a ritual they continued for weeks and weeks, until the lingering summer heat turned into an evening chill and into foggy nights with red and brown and yellow leaves crushed beneath their feet, a ritual that started with the evenings still bright and rosy and ended with hues more gray than blue, started with light sweaters and went from thin jackets to warmer coats.  
“You’ll catch a cold dressed like this,” Yanjun scolded when they met in the entrance hall once again, watching the obviously exhausted boy that was still glowing bright like a sun, because the way his fingers were sore and he would only stop then he knew that the younger was just the same but he was also covered in sweat and hadn’t put on a hat nor zipped up his jacket, still dressed in his sweat drenched training clothes and shoes that weren’t fit for the weather at all.  
“This is such a romantic greeting,” the younger replied with a smile, stumbling against the pianist to lazily wrap his arms around him, head nuzzled against a warm shoulder and a content smile on his lips, “Is it that the school’s infamous villain is actually turning soft for a human fairy like me?”  
“You’re a narcissist… Why do I even bother with you?” Words that contradicted actions as the underclassman was pushed back, fingers fumbling with the zipper to close up the jacket, removing his own scarf to wrap it around the glistening neck of the dancer to keep him warm in the weather outside before a hand was placed on the small of his back, always the same spot, feeling hotter with every passing day and despite the added layers beneath, burning through padded jackets and oblivious to the cold of the outside air, was pushing him forward and towards the doors to exit the building, out into the cold of early winter, bare hands of the younger immediately rubbed together and breathed into to warm up digits that were damp.  
“Because you love me?” Zhengting suggested sheepishly before he already called upon the last of his strength to set off running, head for the coffee house that was their usual place up to the point the employees already knew them there, rushing into the warmth of the shop only to halt instantly, door falling close only to be opened up right after again, with the older stopping behind him and leaning in, breathing hot against his ears and threatening, “If you want to call this a race now to make me pay, you’re mistaken. You didn’t call it in advance.”  
Words that shamelessly went on despite the younger already breaking down, legs that were jelly originally had become additionally weak with the warmth against his sensitive skin, hand pressing against his ear while an incredulous look was thrown upwards, was met with a cocky chuckle as if the other had known exactly what he was doing, and surely he had, because it had been his arm that was wrapped around the dancer’s slender frame to prevent him from falling down and crashing onto the floor and for all but a moment Zhengting forgot about why he had originally stopped so close to the door, something that was painfully called back into memory when he heard the soft, “Zhengting-ge? Are you dating now? Do Chengcheng and Justin-”  
“No!” The dancer immediately called out and lunged forward, half slamming his body into the counter with his hands grabbing the younger by the shoulder, the moment the two pranksters knew, he’d be dead, ended, over and out, “Don’t tell these two! I’ll never hear the end of it!”  
Between two hands that reached to pat him, the one coming from behind was faster, ruffling up his hair in such affectionate manner while their underclassman had to lower it again, voice taking an unusually cold tone as Yanjun spoke up, “We’re not dating so stop saying such fuck-”  
“Language,” Zhengting called from beneath, turning his head to look at the pianist before his eyes turned to the singer, close to his two unwanted kids and an utter sweetheart, if only it was possible he would exchange these two troublemakers for the giant baby that was looking back and forth between his two elders in confusion still but after that desperate move of a body slammed into the counter he really didn’t want to do anything cruel to the second year student now, the one that now looked at him with his brown eyes and asked, “But what are you even doing here?”  
“I’m working here,” the younger answered in the most innocent ways, eyes still big and resembling the dog-like innocence that was basically his whole image and if Zhengting hadn’t seen him tackle down Justin during PE with such ease, he’d even think that the younger one was just that, an innocent huge puppy, childlike and innocent, with way too much physical strength.  
“That’s obvious,” Yanjun answered first, eyes scanning the menu before he already started a whole list of beverages to just seconds later already start listing their whole order of a latte macchiato, caramel vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso, three different kinds of cookies and all that with a fluency it startled both the other boys who could only stare at him in shock.  
Linong was the first to gain back his composure, repeating every single item silently as he typed it into the computer until he had them all listed, looking at Zhengting expectantly who only gave him a gentle smile as he said, “For me, you keeping a secret that we are here together or I’m dead meat.”

Yanjun, as Zhengting had realized that day, really was more gentle than he had first assumed, hadn’t questioned that the dancer had wanted to keep it a secret, unrevealed to anyone but Linong who saw them enter that place to order drinks at least twice a week because that’s how his shifts worked, always posing this awfully observant gaze as if he knew things they didn’t but the dancer was easily able to forgive him because as long as he didn’t need to listen to his two fake brothers complaining to him about how he had gotten closer to the school devil without telling them, he assumed it was still quite a peaceful life and it was such a comfortable tradition already, meeting in the music chamber, meeting in the practice room, meeting in the entrance hall, it was always Yanjun who pulled up his zipper and told him to dress warmer hence he caught a cold and Zhengting who kept forgetting to do so simply because he adored how he would get scolded and yet taken care of, always again and again and again proving how the older was surely more gentle than he would let on.  
Stepping out of the building with a hand pressing against the small of his back as he suddenly stopped, turning around to the older to look at him with a small pout and sad eyes, little clouds originating from his mouth as he mumbled, “We won’t see each other with winter break now…” And it was sad and disappointing because they wouldn’t even get access to the practice rooms in school, meaning he would spend time at the dance center close to Chaoze’s together with the others of their group, working on their assignment of a self-made choreography which surely was the least of their problems as long as all of them worked together, but practicing outside school meant there was no meeting each other in the evening, no coffee and cake on their way home with Linong’s prying eyes watching them.  
“Who says we won’t?” Too close, the other was definitely too close as the younger realized when the older leaned forward, a little smirk on his lips with these darned dimples showing that would surely make him the center of attention with ease and for a moment there was a surge of jealousy because the dancer didn’t want to share this sight, didn’t want anyone else but him to see the usually scowling visage turn into quite the handsome one, knowing it’d charm too many people when he wasn’t supposed to, he much rather had that everyone was intimidated by the prodigy because that way he could have him all to himself and-  
He squealed when warm breath hit his ear, too close, all too close, stumbling back and nearly falling over if it wasn’t for a hand grabbing onto his arm to keep him from crashing onto his ass in quite the unsightly manner, keeping him steady with such ease it was nearly agitating and Zhengting wanted to complain already when he saw how the pianist looked upward, following his eyes to see the little white dots slowly falling down, sparkling when the light of the street lamps hit them, looking all too soft, all too fluffy, all too beautiful, and they accompanied a gentle, “How about we meet in the holidays? Two weeks without you would be quite lonely, you human fairy.”

So they did, met up after their practice times when it was fit, they wrote each other messages on a daily base when they hadn’t for nearly half a year because only now that break time had come up they had actually exchanged numbers.  
“I think I’m too tired to go somewhere grand today,” Zhengting said into the phone as he stepped out of the dance studio, out of hearing range from his teammates, repeatedly checking his surroundings just to make sure they weren’t anywhere close and actually listening in on him arranging a meet up because for sure they would become nosy and curious and stick their noses into places they shouldn’t and it was just all the worse because they all dreaded Yanjun and still clowned him for once having said he was cute. “Can we delay it for today?”  
“No,” the reply was immediately, could hear the breathing from the other end of the line that signaled that the other was also currently somewhere outside, maybe walking home from an additional piano class although he doubted that the older needed it, he would never, it seemed he had become better all on his own and bit by bit he had started to use music sheets less and less often, the printed ones had been replaced by a recorder and after a few weeks into their little after practice tradition it had only occurred to the dancer that the pianist was changing habits, that he wasn’t trying anymore to imitate other musicians but was creating his own music more and more often, perfecting it, and it was making him feel proud like a mother bird and never would the piano player actually admit that it was all the younger’s fault because these words said during their second meeting, they had hit him hard, violently, and he had started to change. At least in terms of music, because he was still frowning and glaring at anyone and anything, even at teachers as Chengcheng and Justin had once reported proudly, but to Zhengting it was still better that way than any other.  
“Let’s meet close to your place. You won’t need to go home for too long then and I’ll still get to see you,” Yanjun proposed after some moments of silence in which they had only listened to each other breathe, making the younger’s heart flutter for but a second before he nodded his head, belatedly realizing that couldn’t be seen so, taking a moment to reply, “There’s a park near the bus station with a playground. Let’s meet at the swings, I’ll text you where to get off.”  
“I’ll wait for it,” was all he was still able to hear before a short beeping signal told him the call had been ended, making him follow up on his own words, writing down the bus station on his phone, started his music player and as the world faded out and as he pulled up his scarf, he silently smiled into the knitted wool as he made his way around the neighborhood to get to his own area, not too far away from Chaoze but still a longer walk that meant he was working his muscles well but despite the cold and the snow falling down he was quite aware that it was worse to take the bus, after seemingly endless hours of overexerting his muscles it would be all but a good idea to suddenly let them rest by waiting for the bus and sitting down, would rather have them cooling down slowly by walking home and at least he had been wise enough to wear another set of sweats over his skin tight training pants.  
With just one stop at a coffee shop to buy two large cups of coffee, it wasn’t long until he arrived at the playground, had already emptied a good half of one paper cup as he settled on one of the two swings, music still reverberating in his ears while he was waiting quietly for the pianist, not taking too long actually, just two songs or maybe three, and Zhengting couldn’t help the smile that spread across his lips when he saw how the older her mimicked him quite well, holding two paper cups of his own, greeted by laughter when they realized how they had not only chosen the same shop but even the same drinks and maybe it merely was because that after nearly daily interactions with each other they knew opposite preferences too well, no matter that they changed on a daily base.  
At first it was just talking, sitting on the swings, swaying around while watching how snowflakes were hitting the ground with the meak illumination of street lamps scattered around the park, emptying their drinks throughout, both through two cups nearly when Zhengting suddenly pointed a few meters down, towards a group of snowmen that were looking quite drowned out after having been covered in fresh snow for hours now, “We built them yesterday. Justin’s on the right and Chengcheng’s on the left and mine in the middle but they maybe mine ugly because they’re rude and-”  
“Shall we build some too then?” Yanjun interrupted him suddenly, tilting his head towards the white figures and it was but a moment needed for the younger to nod his head and jump up from the swing, breaking into a groan when feeling the pull of sore muscles that passed within seconds, merely grabbing their waste to throw away before he looked for a plane with enough snow, laughter filling the quiet night air as they rolled the balls, at times attacking each other with loose snow, a hinted challenge of who could make the bigger one only to end up with similar heights either way, to end up crouched down in front of the small figures and rolling the last ball in their hands.  
“Yours will fall over,” the dancer warned as he dumped the uppermost orb on top of the other two, too focused to see the grin on Yanjun’s lips who just waited for the dancer to pull back his hands, instead hugging his knees as he always did, switching roles as it was now the younger who watched how the pianist placed the last ball so it was stuck on his figure and touching Zhengting’s all at the same time, reaching for two sticks he had pulled out of seemingly nowhere, small branches he had collected sometime in between, to ram them into the middle sphere, directed to be touching each side of the dancer’s snow head and confusing the younger just all the more.  
Eyes that were blinking slowly and a head tilted in confusion, beautiful brown orbs that were directed at the upperclassman as he gently asked, “What are they doing?”  
But there was no reply, no warning, no words, there were just two hands reaching for his frozen and flushed cheeks to cup them in his equally frozen digits before he leaned in, had their lips touch so gently that all that could escape Zhengting’s lips was a silent “oh”, surprise portrayed by his eyes hidden when they fell close and he ever so lightly closed his eyes to reply to a kiss that warmed him up, a kiss sweeter than the coffee he had drunk and more captivating than the most beautiful melody, a kiss that stayed gentle because that, deep down, was exactly how Yanjun was, gentle and soft behind that cold facade of his portrayed by his fingers and the icy tip of his nose brushing against his, a kiss that was like an unspoken confession and deep in ways that were nowhere near physical because it didn’t make him shiver in excitement, didn’t make him feel unbearable need, there simply was warmth blooming in his heart and spreading through his body, to his fingertips and to his toes, and he could have gone on kissing like this forever if not there was a need for air and breathing, all small smiles and closed eyes when they solved their lips off each other, little clouds of heated air meeting and mingling before they pulled back entirely, with Zhengting hugging his legs and hiding his face and Yanjun watching him silently, watching how one hand moved forward and towards the snowmen to slowly carve a heart into the middle ball of his own figure, ears red not from the cold but the blush coming from that moment seconds ago and all Yanjun could do was look at him like he always did and like he could do forever.

**Author's Note:**

> This was LONG and I know but I can't feel sorry because I love it  
> Let's all take a moment to imagine Nongnong as barista please
> 
> Follow me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/zhengjunist) or send me asks/prompts on [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/dadting)


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